Lipton’s Journal/January 31, 1955/344
What I neglected to say about Winchell[1] in the notes on radio and voices is that the secret of his success is simply, very simply, that he talks fast on radio. In life I suspect he talks much more slowly. Given the “ear” into one’s H that the radio provides, vital experience is longed for. But instead come the sonorities of celebrities, announcers, and advertisements (1939 style say). So Winchell as the liberal and Winchell as the reactionary still had an audience, even if it wasn’t the same audience. He spoke quickly, he gave “electric” communication. Now, he is less important because the principle of speed has been used more and more by television. Announcements are given at top speed and so work better. The comedian of the present is a racer going faster and faster, doing more and more.
note
- ↑ A newspaper and radio gossip columnist with a huge audience, Walter Winchell (1897-1972) supported the New Deal, but in the 1950s took a turn to the right and praised the communist witch hunts of Senator Joseph McCarthy.